Release Day for A Gentleman for All Seasons!!

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Huzzah! It’s finally in stores – A GENTLEMAN FOR ALL SEASONS, the anthology I co-wrote with Kate Noble, Shana Galen, and Theresa Romain. These are four new, full-length novellas set in the lovely country village of Hemshawe and at the Friar’s House, a nearby country estate that was once a monastery. The anthology has a holiday twist, too. The four couples featured in the interconnected stories play out their courtships against the backdrop of seasonal festivities, both in Hemshawe and at the Friar’s House.

My novella is called The Season for Loving, and it’s a Regency Christmas story to wrap up the anthology. It was really fun to work on this joint project, weaving the romantic tales of four separate couples into a holiday extravaganza.

The anthology is currently in digital book format, but will soon be available in print from Amazon (hopefully by the end of the day!). You can download from Amazon, Nook, iBooks, Kobo, and Google Play.

For more info about GENTLEMAN and to read the blurbs, just visit the Book’s Page.

Happy reading!

Winter 1


Cover Reveal & Fabulous Deal!

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I’m thrilled to announce that my VK Sykes romantic suspense, Lethal Confessions (the one I wrote with hubby), is part of a fabulous ten-book boxed set with a truly stellar group of romantic suspense authors like Pamela Clare and Katie Reus.  This set will be released on Sept. 16th and will only be available for a limited time before we pull it from the shelves.  Even better, it’s now up for pre-order at the amazing price of only 99 cents!  That’s right – ten full-length books for a buck!

Currently, you can preorder Danger & Desire on Amazon, and it will soon be up for pre-order on Apple, Kobo, and Smashwords, too.  So, if you’re a Kindle lover, just click here to pre-order the book at 99 cents!

 


Julie Bale & Giveaway!!

Stillness of You

Are you a fan of New Adult romances?  Do you like sports romances, too?  I’ve got a wonderful book to recommend that combines the best of both.  It’s The Stillness of You, by Julie Bale.  It’s gritty, emotional, sexy, and beautifully written, and it’s book one in Julie’s Beautifully Damaged Series.

Here’s the blurb:

“Ben Lancaster had just tattooed himself onto my soul and the thing about tattoos? They’re painful to remove.”–Georgia King

Georgia King is trying to survive after spiraling into a darkness that nearly took her life. In therapy with her college dreams on hold,she’s trying to get healthy. Trying to still the craziness inside her. She has no room for someone like Ben Lancaster,and if he was smart he’d stay away. Because everyone knows Georgia is bad news–she ruins people–and if Ben isn’t careful, he’ll be next in line.

Ben Lancaster is a young, hot shot hockey player on his way to the top. Newly signed to the Philadelphia Flyers, he’s living the dream. The girls. The money. The fame. He thought he had everything he wanted until he met Georgia. Suddenly he wants more–he wants her. He’ll do whatever it takes to get her and Ben Lancaster always gets what he wants.

But the girl who’s different from anyone he’s ever known is hiding secrets. And as the dog days of summer pass, only time will tell if Georgia’s secrets can be healed. Or if her bruised soul is strong enough to resist Ben Lancaster…

Sounds awesome, doesn’t it?  Trust me when I tell you that Julie is a wonderful writer.  You’ll want to pick up The Stillness of You before her next book in the series comes out.  That’s The Chaos in Me, which will be on shelves this summer.  Check out this gorgeous cover!

Chaos in Me

You can read an excerpt from The Stillness of You on Julie’s website.

For my readers today, Julie is giving away a Kindle copy of The Stillness of You.  Do you like angsty, emotional romances?  What are some of your favorites?  Tell me all about it for a chance to win Julie’s wonderful book!


Some wonderful books for your e-reader!

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I wanted to let my readers know about two just released books I’m really excited about.  The first is My Lady, My Lord, by Katharine Ashe.  Many of you are already familiar with Katherine’s fabulous and lyrical historical romances, and she’s one of my favorite authors.  I’ve got this book teed up and ready to go on my iPad as we speak!  Here’s the book blurb:

The Bluestocking
Lady Corinna Mowbray has three passions: excellent books, intelligent conversation, and disdaining the libertine Earl of Chance.

The Rake
Lord Ian Chance has three pleasures: beautiful women, fast horses, and tormenting high-and-mighty Corinna Mowbray.

Neighbors for years, they’ve been at each other’s throats since they can remember. But when a twist of fate forces them to trade lives, how long will it be before they discover they cannot live without each other? 

Sounds awesome, doesn’t it?  My Lady, My Lord is available on Kindle and Nook, and you can also read an excerpt on Katharine’s website and check out where else the book is sold.

The other book is by debut author Beth Hyland.  Beth has just published a New Adult Romance called Fall Into Forever, and in less than a week it’s cracked the bestseller lists at Amazon and B & N.

Fall into Forever

Here’s the blurb:

A girl with a past she can’t remember. A guy with a past he can’t forget.

Ivy McAllister had it all. Perfect boyfriend. Perfect life. Perfect future. Or so they tell her. Because one night, on a dark country road, a fiery crash changed everything…and Ivy can’t remember what happened.

Now, two years later, at a new college far from home, she tries to regain control of her life, but her plans don’t include a tattooed, motorcycle-riding, indie music-obsessed guy with his own sorority girl fan club.

Jon Priestly is the hottest guy at Pacific State University. Just ask his groupies. But with a dark past he must keep hidden, he shuts himself off emotionally and trusts no one. That is…until he meets a broken girl with haunting green eyes and secrets of her own.

Ivy shouldn’t be attracted to Jon. They’re wrong for each other in every possible way. Yet as they spend time together, something about him–everything about him–feels so right.

But when threats from her past make her question what little she does remember, Ivy must decide whether to run again or trust the one person she can’t live without.

And what I really like about this book is that it’s a standalone novel – unlike many New Adult stories, Fall into Forever does NOT have a cliffhanger ending.  It’s available on Amazon and B & N for only 99 cents for a limited time, so you want to hop on that.

What are you waiting for – get reading!!


Guest Author: Darcy Burke & Giveaway!!

Darcy Burke

I’m so please to be hosting award-winning author Darcy Burke on the blog today.  Darcy is a lovely person, and she writes wonderful historical romance (and contemporary romance, too).  She’s here to tell us about her latest series and book, Scoundrel Ever After.

Thank you for having me here today, Vanessa! Now that my Secrets and Scandals series is finished (sniff!), I’m reflecting on the characters and stories. I really loved the multi-book redemption arc of Ethan Jagger. Reformed bad boys are one of my favorite tropes and I especially love a series that introduces a character as a villain (or as seemingly irredeemable) and lets you see the transformation from “hell no!” to “ hell yes, please!” What surprised me, though, is that I had not one, but two, female characters who traveled a redemption arc.

The first book in this series, Her Wicked Ways, features a spoiled London debutante who’s banished to the country to reform herself. Instead of multiple books to transform her, she (hopefully!) went from immature and selfish to independent and selfless. That book took place over several months, so her evolution and that of the love story definitely had time to percolate and grow. Still, reformed heroines are harder than heroes!

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So why’d I do it again? head/desk. In the second book, His Wicked Heart, I introduced two secondary characters to befriend the heroine (Olivia). They were Lydia and Audrey, who ended up being heroines of their own books. But I didn’t introduce them with that in mind. Lydia, in fact, was more of a frenemy. She was a gossip and a bit condescending to Olivia, who was new to Society. Audrey was much softer and I knew earlier with her that she needed her own book. Lydia, on the other hand, was a tough sell. She’d been introduced as a foil and to make her into heroine material, I had to figure out why she was the way she was. I surprised myself when I paired her with Jason Lockwood, but I’m so happy with how their story turned out. It seemed natural—and exciting—that the socially vilified Jason would find love with the gossip-mongering Lydia.

I’m sure there’ll be reformation of some kind in my next series, Regency Treasure Hunters. One of the heroes, Lord Kersey, appeared very briefly in Her Wicked Ways. He had a somewhat notorious reputation he was trying to live down. We’ll find out how successful he was! I’m planning for the first book in that series (a prequel novella) to be out this summer.

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Redemption is definitely one of my favorite themes and as I said, reformed bad boys is one of my favorite romance tropes. What are your favorite themes and tropes? What do you think of reformed heroines and what are some of your favorite books that feature them? One lucky commenter will get a copy of Secrets and Scandals Volume 1, which includes the first three books in the series!

Wow!  That’s a very generous giveaway, Darcy – thank you!  Personally, I’m very fond of the reformed heroine, since my third book, My Favorite Countess, featured a heroine who had to follow a pretty steep course of redemption.  What about you, readers?  What are some of your favorite themes and tropes.  Does it include redemption?  Let us know, and I’ll also throw in a copy of My Favorite Countess for Darcy’s winner!

A native Oregonian, Darcy lives on the edge of wine country with her devoted husband, their two great kids, and two Bengal cats. Darcy writes hot, action-packed historical and sexy, emotional contemporary romance. Visit Darcy online at http://www.darcyburke.com and sign up for her new releases newsletter, follow her on Twitter at http://twitter.com/darcyburke, or like her Facebook page, http://www.facebook.com/darcyburkefans.

 


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